If you've considered blogging for money, and you've done any amount of research, then you have no doubt run across a few "blog networks" that promise to bring you instant blogging success. The site looks nice, it has a great Alexa ranking, and you might be wondering if writing for one of these organizations is a good idea.
First, a little background...
Theoretically, Blog Networks are a group of bloggers who get together with related subjects and post articles a few times per week. The network combines the traffic of the group in attracting advertisers. It also helps to increase the value of the overall group through cross-linking related posts in the network.
When a new blog is created on the network, the existing traffic base is leveraged to instantly bring readers to the new blog - greatly decreasing the time required to get new blogs profitable to just a few days or weeks.
That's the theory anyway, and it sounds great, but is a Blog Network right for you?
The fact is that when you write for a blog network, you are creating content and building traffic for someone else's website and if the editor decides to work with another blogger, you probably have no say in the matter.
The work you do doesn't really create value for yourself other than whatever ego boost you get from seeing your name in the byline of the articles you write. If they decide to work with another blogger, or they go out of business, then your name recognition probably won't last long. Fame evaporates quickly.
It's as if you are an employee of the company, but you don't get paid unless your blog does really well. So, in a way you are really taking on the financial risk.
Case in point, last week Gawker Media laid off 19 editors (see the article: http://radaronline.com/exclusives/2008/10/gawker-media-laying-off-19-workers.php). For a company that enjoys nearly 300 Million pageviews per day ... well, you might say they should dance with who brung 'em.
Another BlogNetwork, KnowMoreMedia, announced it was going out of business (see the article: http://www.sparkplugging.com/sparkplug-ceo/what-does-the-end-of-the-know-more-media-blog-network-mean-to-you/. What happens to their bloggers?
AOL has made deep cuts in their blog spending (see the article: http://www.blogherald.com/2008/07/24/aol-cuts-blog-budgets-signs-of-things-to-come/). Has anyone heard any "good" news out of AOL since 1999?
There are many reasons for the tightening of the blog network market - but reasons don't matter much if all of the sudden, you can't make money off your blog anymore.
Further, given all this bad news, you might be left with the impression that perhaps the bottom is falling out of the blogging market. That it doesn't make sense to blog. Not So!
There are plenty of individuals who own highly successful blogs that make them a ton of money. The trick is to be independent and to create multiple income streams from your blogs.
If you own your own domains, and you write your own blogs, then you control what happens to you. Maybe your blogs won't get millions of hits the first month; you're going to have to work your way up from scratch.
But however many hits your blogs do get, at least you know you own those hits. Nobody is going to allow you to build up the site and then fire you for your efforts, and whatever advertising revenue comes in the door belongs to you.
In the end, the most important brand you can build is your own. That's why if you do join a BlogNetwork, make sure you can join as an independent blog site - this is sometimes referred to as a Blog Alliance instead of a Network. These types of organizations help to leverage the power of the network, while maintaining your independence if things don't work out.
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